Wallace's Firing Was A Weak Moment

Conversations

February 11, 2005|By WIL LAVEIST Daily Press

It's a theory I have about how Hampton was led into this crisis.

It starts with a new mayor hungry for power that a "weak" mayor isn't supposed to have. It continues with some council members who are unclear about the role of the City Council, and ends with a stubborn city manager who wouldn't navigate the changed political wind.

I took this theory to an academic to see if I was onto something. Leonard Ruchelman, an urban studies professor at Old Dominion University, not only agreed, but also explained that this is typical of council-city manager style governments in Virginia. It happens when leaders don't clearly understand or adhere to their roles.

The Hampton City Council voted 4-3 Wednesday to fire City Manager George Wallace after months of on and off negotiations and agreements to work together in harmony. Ruchelman, who has been at ODU for about 30 years, is familiar with Wallace from their work with the Hampton Roads Chapter of the American Society for Public Administration. Ruchelman is a past president of the group.

Virginia has a tradition of "weak executive" governments, where there is no one strong leader, Ruchelman said. The disadvantages of this form of governing are playing out in Hampton now.

"It's something inherited from colonial times," he said. "Even the governor of the state can only serve for one term and is not allowed to succeed himself. It's because of the tradition that a strong executive system not properly controlled can lead to tyranny."

So what does this mean for Mayor Ross A. Kearney II?

"Mayors don't have significant formal powers," Ruchelman said.

"They simply sit there along with other council people. Their leadership is based solely on personality. You can have a strong leader who is very active and dynamic, but he doesn't have formal powers such as power of a budget, power of appointment, or veto power."

Doesn't sound like the role that Kearney wants to accept.

Since Kearney became mayor last year he wanted to be more hands-on, perhaps even a full-time mayor inside City Hall.

"He's stepping on Wallace's toes," Ruchelman said of Kearney. "Wallace is the one who manages the city. You've got a new mayor who thinks he knows how to manage the city."

The four council members who voted to fire Wallace have cited his unresponsiveness to some council members, abrasive management style and inability to lead effectively as reasons. Two of them, Randy Gilliland and Charles Sapp, said Wallace lacked vision for the city. However Ruchelman said Wallace's role is not to be a visionary.

"That's policy," Ruchelman said. "It's the council's role to set policy and to come to a consensus on the vision for the city and the city manager's role to execute the policy."

Ruchelman cited relations with Fort Monroe and NASA and zoning and development issues as examples of policy the council is supposed to set and direct the city manager to execute. Gilliland criticized Wallace on these issues.

"The council is a multi-tongued body," Ruchelman said. "They often don't have vision. They're usually reactive and not proactive. When there's no consensus, the city manager becomes the easy target."

Ruchelman said Wallace likely got used to holding onto matters that should've been handled by the council. He too is to blame for his fate.

"He's there to implement what they decide," Ruchelman said. "But Wallace can be a hard man. You can always fire a city manager and get another one."

The council-city manager government can work when you have quality people who understand their roles, Ruchelman said. The form of government is usually best at being efficient and delivering vital services to residents, he said.

And unlike strong mayor governments, it's usually corruption-free because it's not politically driven.

However because there's no single strong leader, council-city manager governments are poor at dealing with a political crisis, such as the racial strife the city is facing. Strife caused by the mayor, council and city manager.

"They're armatures," Ruchelman said of Hampton's leadership. They should've avoided the racial divide.

"A lot of them are business people, particularly the new ones that get in," he continued. "They say run a government like a business. Baloney! It's politics. Hampton doesn't have the leadership to manage that (racial divide) effectively."